Self-regulating electric striking mechanism for clocks



K. BURGHART ET AL SELF REGULATING ELECTRiC STRIKING MECHANiSl FOR CLOCKS Filed Nov. 13 1922' axle of th han s- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

KARL BURGHART AN n GEORG BI'THLER, or VIENNA, A strnIA.

SELF-REGULATING ELECTRIC STRIKING MECHANISM FOR CLOCKS.

Application filed November 13, 1922. Serial No. 600,592.

To aZZco/zom it may concern:

Be it known that we, Gross Bitumen, citizens of KARL BURGHART and the Republic of Austria, residing at Vienna, in the Republic of Austria, have invented useful lmprovements in certain new and Self-Regulating Electric Striking Mechanism for Clocks, of

which the following :is

, This invention relates to a specification.

a self-regulating electric striking mechanism for clocks, said striking mechanism having ratchet wheels which are only axially ournalled and cams and contact disks fixed or arranged so strokes.

Owing .to this arrangement attached thereto as to regulate the number of a special driving mechanism for the striking mechanism may be dispensed with.

Furthermore the arrangement permits altering the position of the hands attached to the ratchet wheels by .a simple shifting without moving the hands from one intermediary stage to the next and so on. The rigi d attachment of the cams and contact disks to the ratchet wheels secures the automatic adjustment of the strokes.

The cam and the contact and correct disk for striking the quarters 'of-the hour and the respective disks for striking the hours, are arranged opposite to each other between the ratchet wheels, whereby the ,contact :for striking the :hours and the quarters ismade in the simplest manner bycontact bars ,or the like.

The ratchet wheels are arranged in such a manner, that the seconds wheel is placed between the minute whee l and the hour wheel, so that the striking mechanism ,for

trolled from the In .the accompanying show by way ot example.

invention,

striking the hours and the quarters is confieoonds wheel.

drawings which one form of the Fig. 1 is an end View and .Fig. 2 a side apparatus, said disks being hour and their respective hands by .4 surrounding each other.

,- onds wheel 6, minute and h elevationqboth showing the disks for the clockwork, striking mecha nism and alarm arranged on the There is also shown the pawl and contact her for thestrikingmech- 3 5 1 Figs. 3.150 8 show front and rear views of fllhe minute wheel 5,

wheel 7 are ar; are connected to sleeves 2, 3 and Eachpf the secourwheels 5 and .the striking lever of a gong. the circuit the seconds wheel.

he contact bars 13 and 15 o frinsulatingmaterial connected with The quarter striking cam 7 have teeth with crates. The latter is steps and the middle part working on the seconds wheel projects so tar that the outer ps w i h a o enga e th m nu e he l and hour wheel respectively, generally are not active. In order to effect step by step movement of the minute wheel 5 the gearing of the seconds wheel .6 is provided with a deeper recess 9 at one point between two adjacent teeth into which the pawl v8 projects with its middle part in such a way that also the stepped part working on theminute wheel engages with the same causing it to step forward for one tooth. The shorter shoulder of pawl .8 allotted to the hour wheel 7 meanwhile is idle. The minute wheel5 is provided with 5 deeper recesses 10 and if the recess 9 coincides with one" ofthe recesses 10 the pawl 8 engages all the re which a pawl 8 coopprovided with hree cesses on the corresponding wheelsandcauses them to step tor-ward foronetoothQ Therefore once in a minute the ninutewheel and the minute hand connected thereto is moved tort; degrees and every 12 minutes the ,hour

hand is moved likewise.

tor stepping forward the seconds wheel for one tooth in every second a s ngle pawl 8 is sufficient, if a half seconds pendulum is used. If clocks with seconds pendulum are hollow coils not shownin the drawings, each provided with an iron core sliding upwards as soonas the circuit is closed and actuating For closing disks 11 and 12 provided with contact parts, are fixed on both surfaces of On each of theicontact disks 11 and 12 a contact bar 13 slides, which upon rotation of the disks is repeatedly brought into contact with the parts of the disks carryingthe current whereby the circuit for the striking mechanism is closed. are guided bycams 14 the minute and hour wheel respectively. :14 connected with the minute wheel 5' is four stepped, the step for striking the first quarter having the one tooth but it may also be meantime by a circult breaker.

largest, the step for striking four quarters having the smallest diameter.

face opposite to the cam 14 a control disk 17 with four contacts 18 set at right angles to each other, which close the circuit just before'each period of striking. As the four contacts 18 arranged on the minute wheel 5 allow closing of the circuit every fifteen minutes only, the circuit is closed for one minute at the longest,'because the contact at thecontact element 18-is broken after this time has elapsed. The circuit is only closed when one of the contact elements 18 and the arm 13 cooperating with the contact plece 20 close the circuit. During this minute, however, the contact between '13 and 20 is only effected fora part of this time, viz, for the time in which the seconds wheel 6 passes through an arc corresponding to the contact piece 20. The drawing shows contact piece 20, for the sake of clearness, on an enlarged scale. The real length of it correspondsto the are run through in four seconds. The hour cam 15 connected with the hour wheel 7 consists of twelve sections 19 of decreasing diameter on whcih the second contact bar 13 impinges successively and makes contact from one to twelve times according to the height of the steps with a contact piece 16, arranged on the contact disk 11 and shaped appropriately.

In order to ensure contact making at the first stroke the forward ends of the contact pieces16 and 20 of the contact disks 11 and 12 are advantageously of a somewhat larger diameter than the largest diameter of the respective cams 14 and15.

The alarm apparatus is switched in by making contact between a button21, Fig. 7, on the hour wheel and a conducting spring 22 fixed on the alarm disk which is mounted on the axle 1. The alarm device is preferably provided with a special current supply by means of a slip-ring 2a fixed on the disk 23 of insulating material, on which a brush, not shown, slides. The signal after being released continues to sound for twelve minutes viz until the contact between the button 21 and spring 22 is interrupted by the hour. wheel being stepped forward for stopped in the The current for driving the clock can be taken from any power-main, choking coils being inserted if necessary.

The above described mechanism operates as follows: The wheels 5, 6 and 7 are actuated by means of the pawls 8, 8, which are The contact disk 12 arranged on the seconds wheel has a.

controlled by the pendulum, not shown, in such a manner that the wheel 5 will execute one rotation within one hour, the wheel 6 within one minute and the wheel 7 within twelve hours. Every fifteen minutes the closing of the circuit is permittedby means of the contact elements 18 which are placed on wheel oyaccording to the relative position of the cam 1-1, on wheel 5, the contact arm 13 which is in abutment with the contact piece 20, actually the circuit for one to four seconds, which circuit is, however, interrupted every second by the pendulum so that the quarter striking mechanism executes one to four strokes. According to the position of the cam 15, which is placed on the hour wheel 7, two strokes are madeby the hour striking mechanism. When the hour wheel 7 has moved so far. that its just opposite the spring22 on the alarm disk 23, the special alarm circuit is closed, whereby the alarm signal is given.

Current passes through contacts 18, through minute wheel 5, the body of the mechanism, wheel 6 to contact pieces 16 and 20.

produces the closing of.

one to contact button 21 is the control arm When these contact pieces are engaged by their respective arms 13 current passes from these arms to solenoids striking respectively quarter hours and hours, and thence by any suitable return wire. 1

A separate circuit for the alarm enters through slip ring A, and passes by spring 22 when in contact with button 21 to wheel 7 and clock mechanism and thence to any type of electrically operated alarm.

What we claim is: Y

1. In a clock striking mechanism, a pair of dial train wheels, aconta'ct member on one wheel, a control cam on the adjacent wheel and a pivoted arm between the wheels whose engagement with the contact member is controlled by said control cam.

2. In a clock striking mechanism, a dial train comprising co-axial die]. a ratchet wheels, one or more of which wheels have at intervals interdental spaces of greater depth ment with said contact member is controlled by said cam.

3. In a clock mechanism, a dial train comprising a plurality of co-axial dial ratchet wheels, an actuating pawl common to said wheels, a manually set contact spring and a contact on one of SH/1d. wheels moved past said spring for closing an alarm circuit;

42. In a clock mechanism; adial train comprising a plurality of co-axial dial than the other interdental spaces" 'of the wheels, an actuating pawl common to all of ratchet wheels, an actuating pawl common to said wheels, a manually set disk having a slip ring thereon and a contact spring on said disk and electrically connected to said ring, and a contact on the hour ratchet wheel arranged to move under said spring and close circuit during the period between two successive steps of said wheel.

5. In a clock mechanism, a dial train comprising co-aXial hour, seconds and minute ratchet wheels having equal numbers of teeth, the seconds ratchet wheel being arranged between the other two wheels, the seconds wheel having a deep interdental space and the minute wheel having five such spaces, an actuating pawl common to said wheels, a pair of contacts carried by the seconds wheels control cams carried by the hour and minute wheels and contact arms for closing circuit through said contacts and controlled by said cams.

6. In a clock mechanism, a dial train comprising a plurality of co-axial dial ratchet wheels, a driving pawl common to said wheels and arranged to step said wheels at different intervals of time, contacts carried by one of said wheels, control cams carried by the other of said wheels, and a pair of contact arms each arranged to co-operate with a contact and a ca 7. In a clock mechanism, a dial train comprising a plurality of co-axial ratchet Wheels, a driving pawl common to said wheels and arranged to step said wheels at different intervals of time, contacts carried by one of said wheels, control cams carried by the other of said wheels, a pair of contact arms each arranged to co-operate with a contact and a cam, and a control circuitclosing means co-operating with one of said wheels.

8. In a clock striking mechanism, a dial train comprising dial ratchet wheels, a pawl common to said wheels and arranged to engage the wheels at different intervals of time, and means to step one of said wheels between the driving intervals of said pawl.

In testimony whereof we aiiiX our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

KARL BURGHART.

GEORG BUHLER. \Vitnesses CARL SOUDENBERG, LUDWIG BURION. 

